


Tether

by AvengerofSquids



Category: INSIDE (Video Game)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Child Death, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Loss of Control, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, No Dialogue, POV Second Person, Partial Mind Control, Spoilers, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, secret ending spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22644475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengerofSquids/pseuds/AvengerofSquids
Summary: "You were glad to be free, at first. It didn't take long for things to change.You were not free; you did not escape.".The boy comes to a realization as he journeys through a broken world.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Tether

**Author's Note:**

> Written for hiddendreamer67's February Prompt List on Tumblr. Prompts #4: Paranoid, #6 Echo and #7 Yellow (combined the prompts because I could think of unique ideas for each of them lol).
> 
> Please read the tags if you have any concerns; this story is dark and contains heavy spoilers for the game INSIDE (and its Secret Ending), which is much better if you go into it blind. Tbh it probably won't make much sense if you don't know about the game so maybe avoid this story and its spoilers if you haven't played it.
> 
> I originally was going to write something Voltron-related before I realized how little content there was for one of my favorite games, so I wrote this instead. I loved playing INSIDE so much and I was surprised to find that the theory I came up with after beating it was somewhat confirmed by the Secret Ending you can find.

You're being pulled by a tether towards a place you don't remember.

You were glad to be free, at first. Despite the dogs hunting you down and the world collapsing around you, there was a thrum of exhilaration beating through your body at the thought of traveling forward. The ground squirmed underneath your feet as you struggled through the farm but the lively yellow birds following your every step made it easier to keep going.

There was a reason you had grabbed that red shirt the instant you had escaped, after all; something about the sheer contrast of its vivid shade against the rest of the world brought you comfort, just like those yellow birds and yellow lights.

It didn't take long for things to change.

As soon as you put the first glowing helmet on your head and started controlling a body that wasn't your own, you understood.

You remembered the terror that came with that realization, how you ripped yourself free from the hanging trap and the yellow light as you finally understood the steady beat in your body and the pull to the east. You were not free; you had not escaped.

Even the colorful shirt you clung to so desperately couldn't hide that you were nothing more than an empty shell.

The instant that fear washed over you, the invisible tether around you tightened until everything faded away and you could only remember to put one foot in front of the other.

It continued like that for days as you stumbled through obstacles towards a goal you don't even want to achieve.

Then, when taking shelter from a storm, you find something hidden away in a cornfield. A trapdoor that, at first glance, doesn't seem to be much more than a convenient hiding space, but quickly becomes something more when the force controlling you tries to keep you away from it.

You make the choice--your first _real_ choice since before this journey started--to enter the tunnel, clutching your shirt for support as the tether becomes more constricting with each step you take. By the time you reach the end, you're choking against the urge to turn around, tripping over your feet into the dim yellow glow of an empty room.

Except there's a plug connected to the wall that repels you gaze every time you try to look at it, so you crawl forward until you're able to grab it.

Yanking it out of the wall, you can feel the solid _snap_ of the tether connected to your brain being severed as the room goes dark.

You're able to bury your face in your shirt one last time before your body goes limp and you fall to the ground, finally free.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that I'm behind on the prompts and missing some; I'm drawing a few and writing the rest so the missing prompts will be drawings uploaded on my Tumblr at the end of the month. I am busy and will work on these prompts at a slower pace because I want to be able to enjoy working on these :)


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